Chapter Five Kami
Chapter Five
Kami
The rest of the week was weird. Everyone was tense because of the thing with the lockers.
Some people believed me when I said I’d been with Taylor when it happened, especially after Ellie told them she’d found us outside talking under the bleachers.
Others said they’d seen me do it and my boyfriend and my best friend were just covering for me.
It was ridiculous, but it didn’t really surprise me.
The worst thing was when Kate came over during my free period along with all my former friends to tell me they were done with me.
“It was bad enough how you let us down when the team needed you most, but writing wannabe on my locker when you know how hard I worked for years to be the team captain, that’s just low—cruel and childish. ”
“I didn’t do it,” I said, trying to remain calm.
“Oh, so it’s just a coincidence that someone wrote ass kissers on the other cheerleaders’ lockers. You think we honestly believe you’re our friend and you wouldn’t do that?” Marissa asked. That stung.
“It wasn’t me!”
“Whatever,” Kate said. Then she scowled at Ellie. “I expected more out of you, Galadriel.”
“Don’t call me that.”
“You two were made for each other,” Kate responded, shaking her head. “I honestly can’t believe I used to think you were my closest friends.”
With those words, I saw a glimmer of what looked like real emotion in her brown eyes, then she turned and walked away. When had Kate become such a horrible person? Where was my lifelong friend?
“Kami, don’t listen to them, seriously,” Ellie said, trying to make me feel better. But she, too, had been hurt by the way our friends were stabbing us in the back. “Ever since she was named captain, Kate’s been on this ego trip…”
“Quitting that stupid squad is the best thing I’ve ever done.”
Ellie was still on the squad, though, and getting along with her teammates had become impossible.
The one thing that saved us was Taylor. His being my boyfriend gave us a layer of protection because, despite everything, he was still the cute boy, captain of the basketball team, and half the girls were madly in love with him.
The guys didn’t seem to care about the whole locker thing as much as the girls. Some of them even thought it was funny. The exception was Danny. The fact that he’d been so upset at being called an abuser and then immediately blamed me made it clear: he was everything he’d been accused of.
I hadn’t talked to anyone about what he’d done, not even Ellie, but he had taken things too far with me more than once.
And I was so stupid, I had forgiven him because I felt pressure to keep going out with the most popular guy in school and I didn’t want to disappoint my parents.
Plus, it was hard for me to admit that I had let someone treat me that way.
And then there was always the question of whether anyone would have believed me if I’d told them what had happened.
But then Taylor started asking questions about it one day after class.
We’d just blended chicken liver with detergent to see its DNA—gross, but interesting too.
Taylor had loved it, he was like a mad scientist, laughing so much the teacher had to reprimand us like five times.
Afterward, as we stood talking outside, he told me how he couldn’t stop thinking about the lockers and especially what had been written on Danny Walker’s.
It had stopped raining for once, and though it was cold, it was nice to see the sunshine.
We walked to a picnic table, Tay sat down, and I stood there between his legs.
Remembering what had happened between Danny and me. I tensed up and looked away.
But Taylor grabbed my chin and forced me to look him in the eye. “Did he hurt you, Kami?”
I didn’t want to talk about it. And I didn’t want him to know because there was nothing that could come of it, apart from another fight.
“Can we not talk about Danny?” I asked calmly. “Why don’t you tell me what you’re going to be for Halloween?”
“Don’t change the subject.”
“Taylor, I don’t want to talk about it because if I do, it’s gonna cause…”
His body instantly tensed up like a guitar string, tuned and ready to play a loud note. “What did he do to you?”
“Nothing!” I lied, trying to sound convincing. “Seriously, can you drop it?”
“I promise you I won’t start a fight. I just want to know what that asshole is capable of.”
I took a deep breath. “He doesn’t know his own strength… We’d get in fights sometimes, and he’d grab my arms, and he’d just squeeze too hard.”
“I’m going to kill him,” Taylor said, starting to get up.
Seeing his reaction confirmed what I already knew. “See, Taylor?” I said, grabbing his shirt and pulling him back. “I knew I couldn’t tell you anything.”
“How do you expect me to just sit back and do nothing when I know that he hurt you?”
“It’s the past, Taylor, and it needs to stay there. It’s my business, and I took care of it the best I could.”
But it hadn’t ended there. Because now Danny’s brother was involved, and my brother too. I’d stopped by to see him for a second that day at recess. He had seemed OK. The teachers were keeping an eye on him, and I hadn’t noticed any more scratches or bruises.
“What are you dressing up as for Halloween?” Taylor finally asked after sitting there for a few moments in sullen silence.
“Honestly? No idea.” I hadn’t even thought about it.
And it’s not like I had any money to spend on a costume or time to make one.
I’d have to improvise. “Honestly, the way things have been going, I’m not sure if Aaron’s party is even a good idea for me.
I don’t really want to show up just to give everyone a chance to glare at me like I’m some sort of witch. ”
“You know what?” he responded suddenly, looking convinced. “Screw Aaron’s party. We’ll see who can really draw the people in. I’ll throw a party at my house, and people won’t dare give you dirty looks. I think I’ve made it clear at this point: Anyone who messes with you messes with me.”
I smiled and pulled him toward me, tugging at his shirt.
“You’re doing it again,” I said, brushing his lips with mine. “I know how to take care of myself.”
I don’t think he heard my words before he started kissing me.
Taylor was a good kisser: he knew how to bring me to my knees and make me feel like no one could ever hurt me as long as I was in his arms. He was the kind of guy who would take a bullet for the people he cared about.
And dammit…that was going to be his downfall.
***
My training shift at Mill’s was a success.
I mean, it wasn’t a secret to anyone that cakes and cookies were kind of my thing.
I’d won competitions at the county fair, and my cakes were always the first to sell out, and that fact convinced Mrs. Mill.
I could wait tables and cash people out at the counter, and I was more than happy to bake anything she asked.
“Now if you see a bunch of kids come in here to drink nothing but water or split one coffee between them, as if this were some sort of library, you let me know,” she said.
“I’ll go over and start lecturing them about the war.
You just watch how they scamper off like scared little lizards.
Teenagers today, they don’t give a damn about anything but TikTak and Pinstagram. ”
It cracked me up that she couldn’t remember what TikTok was called and that she thought Instagram and Pinterest were the same thing, but now I knew her secret weapon.
I had done the very thing she was complaining about.
This was a business, after all, and plenty of times we’d come in just to study and read, it was so comfortable in there.
Combining school and work ended up being easier than I’d thought.
If it was a slow night, Mrs. Mill would let me study behind the counter.
One downside was having to serve my own classmates.
They couldn’t believe that the former queen of the school, who had always had money and used to take European vacations every summer, was now slinging coffee.
I heard their remarks, and I tried to ignore their laughter when I had my back turned.
My mother hated seeing her daughter work in that dump, as she called it.
She had lied to her friends at the club, telling them the job would look good on my application to Yale.
It was stupid—anyone who didn’t live under a rock had heard about our financial problems by now.
Mom had lost her power. And she wasn’t handling it well.
On Friday afternoon, Julian came in and took a table in the corner. We looked at each other warily, and when I walked over to ask if I could get him anything, he asked me to sit down. I looked over at Mrs. Mill, noticed there was no one in line, and decided to join him for a moment.
“I’m sorry, Kam,” he said, calling me by the nickname only Thiago used for me. “I know it wasn’t you. I know you’d never do something like that. But when I saw that word on my locker, I couldn’t think. I just reacted.”
“It’s fine. I understand. I really do,” I said, pleased to see he no longer blamed me.
“It wasn’t right. I was a bad friend. I have been for weeks now,” he said, taking my hand. “I know things haven’t been easy for you. You pulled away from me and everyone else, and I thought you didn’t want to be my friend anymore.”
“Of course I still want to be your friend, Julian! But what you’re saying is true. I did pull away. And I think now they see me as weak.”
“People might think you’re a nobody now that your little gang’s rejected you,” he responded indignantly. “But they’re wrong.”
“That little gang was all my friends. And they won’t even speak to me.”
“They weren’t your friends then. They have no idea about the kind of person you are, Kam. You are the queen of the school, you always will be, and people will realize that whether they want to or not.”